Global Policy Forum

  In a General Assembly vote a record 157 countries today favored an end to the United States economic embargo of Cuba. Only the United States and Israel objected. Twelve countries abstained. Although the resolution is not binding, it reflected what experts described as "astonishing unanimity" by many of America's allies and friends against the use of sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy.

The vote also illustrates the erosion of support for the United States Policy toward Cuba, the experts said. "As a general principle when a country finds itself totally isolated and has virtually no allies, it should be an occasion for reflection on its policy line," said Jeffrey Laurenti, executive director of Policy Studies at the United Nations Association of the United States, a grass-roots organization in Washington.

Mr. Laurenti echoed the views of other experts when he said support for sanctions diminished dramatically after Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, extending sanctions to countries and foreign companies that do business with Cuba, Iran and other nations with which the United States has disputes.

"The United States has a perfect right to prohibit trade by its own nationals or companies with a country it deems a threat to its own security," Mr. Laurenti said in a telephone interview today. "But the extraterritorial nature of such laws has turned a great deal of friends like Canada and the European Union against us."

Last year 143 nations supported the resolution, and the United States, Israel and Uzbekistan opposed it. This year a diplomat from a country riendly to the United States said, "The Cubans did not even have to lead the fight." The number of those opposing the American position has steadily inreased in annual votes for seven years.

The resolution cited the Helms-Burton Act, which many here saw as an attempt to impose American laws on other countries. But the United States representative, Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh, said that "the Cuban Government's systematic denial of universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms to the people of Cuba" was reason enough to maintain the embargo.

"The United States," Mr. Burleigh added, "believes that economic sanctions are an important foreign policy tool to be used in certain compelling cases." The Helms-Burton law has stretched the limits of the 35-year-old embargo by allowing United States citizens who were Cuban citizens before Fidel Castro took power in 1959 to sue foreign companies or individuals. The defendants have to be conducting business from property that Cuba confiscated.

The law also denies visas to the United States to shareholders in the companies and their executives, and it caused a severe disagreement with Canada and the 15 nations of the European Union. "Congress has been sanction happy for some time, and the U.S. has kept these sanctions on Cuba for domestic reasons", an expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, Judith Kipper, said. "Obviously in some cases sanctions don't serve American interests. At this stage they are not helpful in places like Cuba and Iran. We can accomplish a great deal more of what we want in Cuba by opening tourism and trade." The General Assembly resolution was introduced by Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina of Cuba.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.